Wellington

Books and bakes to boost fundraising total

Members of staff at Specsavers in Wellington are appealing for donations ahead of a book and bake sale as part of ongoing support for international eyecare charity, Vision Aid Overseas.

Local response

With more than £600 raised so far, the team hope to add to the fundraising total by selling books and home-made cakes to locals on Friday 30th June.

Store director Satinder Sidhu commented: ‘We’d like to encourage as many people as possible to donate books for our sale next week. Anyone wishing to contribute can simply pop into the store. We’ve had a great response from our local community for our support of Vision Aid Overseas so far, and hope that this next event will be equally successful.’

As part of the charity pledge, Satinder will be travelling to Sierra Leone for two weeks in November, helping to provide eyecare to people living in rural communities. As well as training staff in the country’s developing vision centres, Satinder will be carrying out eye examinations and supplying specs to people who would otherwise have little or no access to these services.

£2,000 pledge

Along with the team, Satinder has pledged to raise £2,000 for the charity in 2017.

Satinder added: ‘We’ve been working with Vision Aid Overseas for more than 10 years now, collecting old and unwanted specs and raising awareness for the fantastic service it provides. But this year, we wanted to go one step further.

‘We’ve got some fantastic bakers in store, so I know that they will whip up some wonderful treats for everyone in store next week, and I’m looking forward to seeing the range of titles we collect in the days running up to the event.’